US escalates policy of offending Muslims: Analyst

It’s that they incite Muslims, they offend them and then they see how Muslims react and say, oh, look how barbaric they are, just to point the finger and then see who can be the harshest, in the American political system, who can come out strongest against the Muslims because when your politics are impotent at home; when you’re failing at your politics at home you always want to create an external enemy, an external event."

Millions of Muslims demonstrate anti-US sentiment, sparked by a movie made by an American that grossly insults the Prophet Muhammad.
The movie Innocents of Muslims follows a stream of anti-Muslim acts by Western countries and was released on September 11 or 9/11, 2012.
US Embassies of several countries have been attacked by popular revolt resulting in the deaths of four US diplomats in Libya. These consequences are said to be underpinned by years of US war, interference and US-governed oppression in the Middle East and North African regions and could influence the 2012 US presidential election campaigns of Obama and Romney.
Press TV has interviewed Mr. Assad Baig, journalist and political commentator, London about the issue. Also providing points of view on this news analysis is Mr. Zafar Bangash, Contemporary Islamic Thought Institute, Toronto, and Mr. Waleed el-Haddad, Freedom and Justice Party, Cairo.
What follows is an approximate transcript of the interview.
Press TV: When we’re looking at this wave of protests especially what we’ve seen in Cairo, tomorrow is bracing itself because we are looking at Friday prayers - possibly a tsunami of anger is coming from the Muslim world.
But isn’t it quite telling, like what is happening in Cairo, that these protests are for the most part, they are anti-American… it seems like they are channeling their anger to the US, but it wasn’t the US that made this film, but one person, an American Israeli man at this point.
So what does that show - why is this anger channeled to the US itself?
Baig: The reason for the protest to be angered and directed toward the US is quite simple. People around the world specifically Muslims have seen the US bomb their countries, occupy, and have had this since 9/11, and well before, intervention in the Middle East, harsh strong oppressive language used toward Muslims.
And this is the straw that breaks the camel’s back because Muslims will understand that, look, this isn’t the US that’s made this film, but this is a US citizen, someone in America and they see America as the great Satan.
Whether America accepts that or not… There are many Americans that would say, why do people around the world hate us? Well, it’s quite simple - Iraq, Afghanistan, Palestine, America’s intervention is everywhere.
So if you oppress a people for so long and in such a manner and then attack their religion, something that is very sacred to them, that they love more than anything else, then you will get this angry protest this violence this anger and this hatred towards the US.
Whether it’s justified or not, that’s up to people to decide. But America and Americans have to understand that this act in and of itself, this film, isn’t isolated. For a lot of people around the world this is connected to everything else the US has been doing.
Press TV: We talked about the intrinsic value that should lie behind a human life. The person or organization or the people involved behind making this movie, it is sketchy but is said to be an Israeli American living in the United States, but what is your take on the fact that this came out on 9/11?
Different details that are murky that even the identity is not clear. Why is that the way it is? Obviously it is surrounded by lots of questions, you can’t even get an address on this man let alone a picture and yet there is news that the US Attorney General has actually - and this is not even making headlines - that they have actually talked to the person who is behind this movie.
Why is it that this has gone in these different directions - Why isn’t the US coming out, in other words, announcing that these developments have happened in order to smooth out the situation since we are seeing demonstrations across the world, some violent in cases?
Baig: Call me a cynic, but maybe they don’t want to. Nobody knows who this person is; the film itself is extremely dubious; someone seems to have made it in their basement; it says that he had five million dollars funding for it yet it doesn’t even look like one hundred thousands dollars was spent on it; there’s dubbing taken place where actors seem to be saying something totally different an the sound is something else; and the fact that it came out on 9/11…
We have to remember this is an election going on in America, Obama and Romney, you know, they are vying for polling positions and they’re taking this battle on… and maybe this eruption; this reaction in the Muslim world will play into one of their hands. Why release this on 9/11, what’s the point? And I think that some people want to see that reaction.
It’s that they incite Muslims, they offend them and then they see how Muslims react and say, oh, look how barbaric they are, just to point the finger and then see who can be the harshest, in the American political system, who can come out strongest against the Muslims because when your politics are impotent at home; when you’re failing at your politics at home you always want to create an external enemy, an external event.
And I’m not be conspiratorial here or an extreme cynic, but I think that sometimes when the politics is not going well in America there always seems to be an external event taking place and Muslims seem to be the scapegoat here.
And also the Western media is playing a very euro-centric and oriented line. Every time Muslims demonstrate or get angry and express their anger, words like barbaric and savage are used.
Yet, when America bombs hundreds of thousands of civilians we don’t use those words, barbaric or savage - those words seem to be reserved for people of color, Muslims or people outside of Europe.
So I think that some people within the American system actually want this to play out and see if they can take advantage of it and also I think that the filmmakers or whoever is behind this knew exactly what thy were doing. They thought, you know what, we want to be famous, we want to make some money we want to gain some popularity, it’s easy, let’s offend Muslims and that’s the easy ticket to fame.
SC/JR